Injuries to an individual's fingers, hand, wrist, and forearm are common occurrences during exercise, sporting events, and/or other types of recreational and/or professional physical activity. Injuries can be the result of a single trauma to the afflicted area (e.g., an impact or irregular movement during an exercise or sporting event) or can result from repetitive motions (e.g., overuse/overtraining associated with exercise).
While various types of devices for providing support to the fingers, wrist, and forearm exist, such devices typically allow extension of the wrist to occur, which can cause pain and injury. For example, wedge-shaped devices designed to support a user's hand allow much of the user's weight to be placed in the heel of the hand, rather than positioning the hand in a neutral position, which can lead to strain and wrist extension. Long cylindrical devices used to promote alignment of a user's hand and/or forearm typically require the user to shift his or her weight must be in a forward direction, toward the fingers, to straighten the wrist into a proper neutral position. Some support devices require a user to grip at least a portion of the device with his or her fingers, such that a significant amount of strength is required to use the device, which can lead to muscular strain.
Other types of support devices include a rounded bottom to create instability, requiring the user to utilize muscles in the wrist to maintain balance, eventually strengthening these muscles. Some devices of this type incorporate a flexible compressible body. While use of such devices may eventually strengthen the muscles in the wrist, use of these devices may damage or injure these muscles and/or aggravate preexisting injuries of a user.
A need exists for support devices usable during exercise, sporting events, athletic activities, and/or other types of physical activity, that protect the hand, wrist, fingers, thumb, and/or forearm from injury, e.g., by limiting movement thereof.